Financiers embrace chief data officer role

Maintaining data quality can be a major challenge for companies in any industry, but it is especially hard for the financial services sector, which gathers vast amounts of information on a daily basis.

To combat that problem, more businesses are creating data scientist and chief data officer jobs to remove some of the burden from technology and information chiefs, Smart Data Collective reported earlier this year.

According to a study from GoldenSource, a data service provider, 60 percent of responding firms are in the process of setting up data steward positions, with the goal of appointing chief data officers.

Stephen Engdahl, senior vice president of product strategy for GoldenSource, commented that despite the financial crisis happening four years ago, many institutions are still finding it difficult to get a full understanding of their data.

"It is essential to risk management, regulatory requirements, and operational efficiency that data management is viewed as a business function, whose quality and governance apply across the enterprise," he said. "Appointing data stewards and Chief Data Officers to galvanize governance as a shared service across these firms will be crucial to success," Engdahl added.